Hi I've searched the forum for China and have not found that much on food allergies. I'm getting ready to leave for China for a little over a month but now that my trip is so close I've been told by multiple people that I won't be able to eat anything in China. My main food allergy is eggs and I get sick even if the same utensil is used to serve something that had eggs in it. This is a big enough problem for me in California. I'm hoping someone could give me some advice about my food options while I'm there. I'm assuming people will tell me things don't have eggs even if they do because that happens all the time here. Am I stuck eating at McDonalds???

Be very careful. Most Chinese don't understand allergies or its consequences. They might give you the answer you want to hear to sell you a meal. Suggest you only eat at nice western hotels. Even eating at nice Chinese restaurants may be risky.

Welcome to FlyerTalk!

You should memorise / print out these phrases:

我不能吃鸡蛋，我对鸡蛋过敏 // wo3 bu4 neng2 chi1 ji1dan4, wo3 dui4 ji1dan4 guo4min3 // I cannot eat eggs; I am allergic to them.
有什么菜不含有鸡蛋？ // you3 shen2me cai4 bu4 han2you3 ji1dan4 // What food do you have that does not contain eggs?

There are companies that sell little cards with these kind of things written on them, but they'll almost certainly just be a variation on what I've put above. If you show/tell this to restaurants, they should understand what you're saying, but whether they understand the implications is uncertain. Most reputable places should be good about telling you which menu items actually contain eggs, but all bets are off when it comes to avoiding all contamination with egg products.

As coplatflyer notes, food allergies are not a well understood concept in China, even in nicer (including Western) restaurants. Often, you may be interpreted as not wanting to eat something rather than not being able to. While people will generally make an effort, a lack of familiarity with these issues means that attempts will often be ineffectual. For instance, telling a Chinese person that you are allergic to peanuts will generally ensure that no actual peanuts end up in your food, many will not realise that a peanut allergy includes peanut oil.

Expect trouble. I don't have a good answer.

Even with a native-speaker spouse I've gotten food that contains stuff other than what it was supposed to.

The majority of protein in Chinese diet is from soybean, although they do
have egg production 4 times the US.

As far as egg in their diet, salted eggs from duck, pidgeon, etc. Thousand year old eggs in gelatin. Haven't seen much else.

Egg protein is more expensive so not normally a subsitute in daily diet.

However, melamine may be.

I think you are thinking of 'egg dishes'. Many, many dishes have some egg scrambled into them in my experience, including many soups. And even if they don't, very few kitchens would not use eggs at all, and the OP is particularly concerned about contamination from using same cooking utensils.

tb

I would carry bilingual cards but with a stronger warning, as in "If I eat anything with eggs, I will die." I am serious about this. The Chinese definitely don't understand the implications of any serious food allergy, so hitting them over the head with the message is perfectly OK.

I actually find eggs one of the easier things to avoid in China. I've been doing it successfully for 10+ years. I am not allergic, but hate all eggs, all forms, with the passion of a thousand burning nuns. Many, many Chinese dishes have no egg at all in them--the things to particularly avoid would be fried rice dishes and some noodle dishes including all egg noodle types. And of course, obvious egg-based dishes and soups with egg threads in them. Be particularly careful of soups. Also be careful of dumplings, which can often contain pieces of egg.

I find that most meat and vegetable dishes, have no egg whatsoever. Ditto for doufu (tofu) dishes. Order dishes that are stir-fried, not deep fried, as the batter coating deep fried food may contain egg products. Steamed white rice is always safe.

There is no way, unfortunately, to deal with the issue of potentially contaminated utensils. Although I think the danger of secondary contamination may be a bit overblown. You should probably carry medication, an epi-pen, or whatever you must to combat inadvertent encounters arising from this sort of thing.

Dining in Western restaurants/hotel restaurants is no guarantee. Do not be lulled into a false sense of safety by relying on this gambit.

Good reason to have hot pot for every meal in China.
That's heaven.

that's my favorite^

It depends on how sensitive someone is.

The reality is that cooks very often only rinse utensils between preparing dishes--anything oil-based on the utensils will transfer to the next dish being prepared. I have been nailed by such cross contamination once. Fortunately my problems don't run to the deadly kind, just unpleasant. As for the quantities involved--I have reacted to some contaminant in 3 milligrams of material.

egg white sauce(with crab meat), egg drop soup, whole egg/egg white in marinade or batter...

Thanks everyone for your advice. I'll be printing out multiple copies of that phrase. I've gotten sick from cross contamination at places that are supposed to be careful, even if a knife is just rinsed I can get sick. I've heard that certain american Chinese restaurants use almost like a wash to coat the chicken and meat that is made with eggs so I'll probably stick to white rice! Thanks for calming me down about my upcoming trip.

Hot pot will be safe? It seems like it would be a safer choice!

If your allergy is this severe, you honestly don't stand a chance.

Hot pot itself won't generally contain egg products, but cross contamination (which is going to be your big problem anyway) can still be an issue. Some people also dip meat from the hot pot into bowls of raw egg, and will then use their chopsticks (now with traces of egg) to grab another bite from the pot. Honestly, having seen the inside of a good number of restaurant kitchens in China, even white rice isn't necessarily safe from having come in contact with a serving utensil or bowl also used at some point for something containing eggs.

Some places offer personal hot pots.
The hot pots generally have choice of chicken broth or spicy stock.

Chicken broth powder (supplied by yourself) could be added to
plain water in the bowl to insure the broth has no egg contaminents.

Fresh meats, poultry, vegetables, seafood, various organs should have no
cross contamination with eggs.

As far as dipping sauce, should not have egg contaminents if you
stick with mixing up your own from soy, sesame, chille, etc.

Dipping sauce pre-made could contain egg.

That's making me hungry for hot pot now, too bad the closest place
is about 50 miles away.

Our last trip I found some whole kernel corn in white rice. I can't imagine why it was there but apparently the waitress knew--after the discovery she said she had no way of knowing what bowls of rice contained it.

Fortunately for me things like that are mild enough I can simply pick it out with no worries.